voice, feel His hand and respond to His love; who have daily intercourse with Him; and ever coming forth anew from such communion are more sure of His Being than they are of that of any earthly friend! He is not to them an "Unknown God." The little child, shrinking timidly from every stranger, flies to its father's open arms. He may be gigantic in form and solemn in feature; and as he returns from field of toil or scene of strife, may be to others an object of fear; but his own little one, as father's step is heard on the threshold, runs to clasp his knee and be folded in his arms. And so the mighty God, before whom angels veil their faces, encourages us to run and welcome His advance, to trust Him, to love Him as "Our Father."

II. FATHERHOOD BY CREATION.

Earthly parents are only links in the chain of dependent causation; but He who made all things is God. Whatever the methods, whether by a separate fiat creating each distinct species in its full maturity, or whether by slow process of evolution from lower forms, a Primal Originator there must be, adequate in power and wisdom to form a universe replete with evidences of strength and design. In all things we trace

"The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing,
And wheels His throne upon the rolling worlds.

Nature is but a name for an effect,

Whose cause is God. . . . Not a flower

But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivalled pencil."

-COWPER,

Strange, that in an age of scientific discovery any should fail to recognise the Designer of works which, the better they are known, inspire the more admiration. Lord Bacon said he would rather believe all the fables of the Talmud or Koran, than that this universal frame of nature was without a God. Of all the evidences of a wise Creator, none are more impressive than those nearest to us-in man himself. Every advance in anatomical and physiological science demonstrates more clearly that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Any single organ should suffice for proof: the hand, the foot, the ear, the eye; each fitted for special service; the marvellous mechanism within-for all functions necessary for life; the adaptation of these to each other; the intellectual and moral nature in harmony with the physical; and all with the external world; so distinctly speak their Divine Original, that even heathen writers, as the poet quoted by St. Paul, confessed, "We are also His offspring." I see a portrait and admire the outline, the colouring, the character revealed in eye and mouth. I contemplate a statue, so perfect in its representation of the human form that the marble seems to breathe. Should any suggest that no painter had drawn skilful brush across that canvas, that no sculptor with cunning chisel had shaped that marble, but that both had come into exist

ence without any personal agency, such a critic would be regarded either as joking or as insane. And can I look on the human artist possessing the life of which his productions only wear the semblance, and refuse to recognise in him the handiwork of the Divine Artist, the Father of men?

III. FATHERHOOD BY REDEMPTION AND REGENERATION.

Although, as Creator, God is the Father of all men, yet, as "all men have sinned," they have forfeited. the higher privileges of sonship, our restoration to which was the object of the mission of Christ. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." The nature of His mediation it is not the purpose of these pages to discuss; but the result is stated by the Evangelist: "As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name;" and by St. Paul: "God sent forth His Son, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Sonship is here restricted to believers in Christ. Sentence of banishment is annulled, and their unfitness for dwelling in God removed. others remain in a state of alienation. To the Jews who boasted, "We have one Father, even God," Christ replied, “If God were your Father, ye would love me : ye are of your father the devil." "The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." "As many as are led by

All

the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," and receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Those who are "dead in trespasses and sins" are "the children of wrath, even as others." The distinction is again clearly drawn by St. John: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God! Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil." It was only to disciples Jesus said: “I ascend to my Father and your Father."

If, then, all men are children of God, they cannot be so in the same sense. Between them there exists the difference of light from darkness, of life from death. It cannot therefore be scriptural to speak of the unregenerate as needing only to see and recognise a relationship already existing. Our Lord declared with solemn emphasis, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Without this new birth he cannot therefore be a child of God. "For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus." The "all" is here limited to the possession of faith, which implies filial obedience. No one should be buoyed up with the false hope of being saved by virtue of relationship to the Father, while discarding His love and violating His laws.

May we not then appeal to sinners in any sense as His children? Even the prodigal, far from home and feeding on the husks of his own wickedness, still claimed the relationship, saying: "I will arise and go

to my father." He knew that his father loved him still, but he could not obtain the allowance of even one of his father's "servants" if he remained away in guilty rebellion. So long he must expect nothing better than swine for company, and husks for food. There is a vital difference between the dutiful child at home and the rebellious profligate in self-chosen exile, although both may have one father. "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Sinners are "lost" until they return to God: they are "dead" until by believing in Christ they live anew. God is still their Father, inasmuch as He created them, has provided a way for their return, and invites them home. "Return, ye backsliding children, saith the Lord." Sinners may be appealed to as having in God a Father who has not ceased to care for them, and who, if they return, will see them when far off, and welcome them home; so that none are excluded from the privilege of thus addressing the Most High: "Our Father which art in heaven."

IV. BLESSINGS INVOLVED IN FATHERHOOD.

1. Love.-That "God is Love" is a grand revelation that God is "Father" is grander still. This comes home to the heart. It has more beneath it and not less than our loftiest conceptions can picture and our strongest yearnings crave. Earthly parents, the tenderest and best, do not fully realize the Divine ideal of fatherhood, and therefore human experience